The Spanish Constitutional Court has suspended the Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Barcelona (CNA).- The new Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs, headed by pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’s top member, Raül Romeva, has been suspended. The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) accepted this Tuesday the appeal presented by the Spanish executive, which considers the Catalan government to have exceeded the competences in matters of foreign action specified in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Thus, the new Ministry and its competences will be suspended at first for five months, which is the period that the TC has to study whether the new Ministry is in line with the Spanish Constitution. In November, the TC unanimously approved the suspension of the Parliament's declaration of independence as well as the appeal made by the Spanish government to stop the reform of Catalonia’s Tax Agency.

Puigdemont: “We will continue to do foreign action”

At this Wednesday’s plenary session, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has defended the legitimacy of the Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the task of Raül Romeva, who he assured “will continue to be the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs”. “There is no doubt that wewill continue to do foreign action” he stated “there is no way we will renounce to it”. 

Puigdemont’s statements were in line with those made by Romeva , who assured after the Spanish executive's announcement that they were taking the new Ministry before the court that Catalonia “has done, does and will continue to do foreign action”. The former MEP and pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ leader asked everyone to “keep absolutely calm” and insisted on the democratic “legitimacy” of his department. “What we are doing is absolutely within the Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy” and “we have a legitimate democratic mandate to do all this that we must do and need to do as a country”.

Another attempt to stop Catalonia’s push for independence before the court 

“We need a state which will dialogue and accept Catalonia’s majoritarian will” stated the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, in reference to the TC’s decision. She lamented that “once again” the Spanish executive is trying to “stop a political process” such as Catalonia’s push for independence “through the court”.